Picking on Alphonse Elric
by The Prettiest Frog in the Pond
Summary: AU, side-story to Escaping Yesterday. Three bullies pick on Al- but they're going to wish they hadn't when his older brother shows up. Brotherly fluff. Mild violence. Wheelchair-bound Ed, human Envy, human Alphonse. Oneshot.


_Okay, this is a side-story to Escaping Yesterday. You don't have to have read that to understand this, but there are some things you'll need to know before you read- one: It's AU. there's no alchemy and no automail. Thus, Ed is in a wheelchair, built for him by Winry, since he is missing the same limbs he loses in the anime/manga. Two: Envy is Ed and Al's half-brother, and, since the death of their mother and the disappearance of their father, he is also their guardian. He is roughly twenty years old. Ed is about fifteen, and Al is fourteen._

_To those of you who HAVE read Escaping Yesterday: Do you remember in chapter one, when Envy mentioned that Ed had once 'run over three bullies and successfully knock one of them out'? You probably don't, but if you go back, towards the very bottom of the chapter, it's right there. And I was bored, so I decided to write a oneshot about it.  
_

_Anyway, enjoy! DISCLAIMER: I own nothing._

* * *

"Hey, Elric! What's the matter?"

Alphonse quickened his pace. He really didn't want to deal with _them_ right now.

_They_ were Mark Russle, Rick Carter and Jason Powell, and they had been harassing him for the past few days. He didn't know why, but he wished they'd stop.

So far, it was just rude comments, but he had a feeling that if they got the chance, they'd try and beat him up. Al could defend himself fairly well, but that didn't mean he wanted to get into a fight with them.

"Ignoring us Elric? That's not very nice, is it, huh? What would your tramp _mother_ say?"

It had been one month, _one damn month_ since his mother's death and _they thought they could_- Alphonse saw red.

"Shut up about her! You don't know anything, you bastards!" he snapped.

"Ooooh, goody-two-shoes _has_ got a filthy mouth, hasn't he?"

Mark snickered. Jason smiled in a way Al decided he _really_ didn't like. He backed away a little.

"Hey, Elric, got any cash? I'm a little short of change..."

They advanced further. Al, knowing that he couldn't outrun them, dropped into a defensive crouch, and desperately hoped he could win this fight.

* * *

Edward glared irritably at Envy as they made their way to the school. He had taken the day off while Winry repaired his wheelchair- he had managed to twist one of the wheels out of shape, much to Winry's displeasure- and upon returning to their home, they had discovered that Envy had locked his keys in the flat. So now they had to go to the school to get Al's keys.

Ed arrived at the gate and glanced across the school grounds, expecting to see Alphonse chatting to his friends. What he _didn't_ expect to see was his little brother being threatened by a group of thugs.

Edward barely thought about it before he rammed his foot down on the wheelchair's speed pedal, fingers dancing over the controls on the armrest to get him over to his little brother _right now._ The boy advancing on Al stopped dead as Edward's chair squealed to a halt in front of him.

Jason walked towards his victim with a nasty smirk on his face- only to halt in surprise as something appeared between him and his intended target. His surprise turned to a smirk, however, when he realised what that something was.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't cripple-boy." he said. Edward's glare, already murderous, became even darker.

"Watch who you're calling cripple, bastard." he hissed. Jason laughed.

"Ooh, I can see where goody-two-shoes gets his bad language from. Setting a bad example for your little brother, are you?"

"Shut the hell up." Ed replied heatedly. "And get the hell away from my brother."

"Oh yeah? And what're you gonna do, shrimp?" asked Mark. Ed glared daggers at him.

"_Don't. Call. Me. Short."_ he said through gritted teeth. The bullies laughed.

Most people assumed that small, wheelchair-bound Ed was not a threat. Al knew better. Winry had built that wheelchair, and in Ed's, ah, _creative_ hand, it was a deadly weapon. It was, to be precise, several kilos of metal with a possibly homicidal teenage boy at the controls- and some parts of that wheelchair were _sharp_.

"But you _are_ short. Like a little girl, don't you think? Especially with that long girly hair." said Mark.

Al winced. "Uh, you might want to take that back..."

It was too late. **"**_**Who're you calling so small little girls want to play dollies tea parties with him?!"**_

It took Al quite some time to figure out what Ed had actually done to the poor boy- it had happened too fast- but when he replayed the scene in his head, he realised what had happened. Edward had rammed him head on with the wheelchair going at top speed, and then let go of the controls momentarily to grab at the boy's left arm and _twist_ with enough force to send him headfirst into the wall, knocking him out.

The other two boys backed away when they saw their fallen comrade- but Edward was in full rant-mode now, and nothing would deter him from beating the crap out of these poor, misguided fools who had _dared_ to insult his brother _and_ call him small.

* * *

"Brother-"

"Al! They were going to beat you up!"

"Yes, brother, and it's not that I don't appreciate your help, but I could've handled it."

"It was three on one! And they called me short."

Al decided to ignore his brother's height complex for now. "Okay, fair enough, thank you for saving me, but Ed..."

"What?" demanded Ed.

"Did you have to be quite so violent? I'm quite sure Mark will never be able to look at a wheelchair without babbling again in his life."

Edward smirked. "Serve him right."

"And knocking Jason out was unnecessary." Al continued.

"Was not."

"And Rick really was only trying to apologise. You didn't have to run over his foot. You broke it, you know." he said reprovingly.

"He called me small!" protested Ed.

"No he didn't, brother. He said, 'I'm sorry for picking on your little br-' but then you attacked him when you heard the word little."

Envy, who was trying to hold back his laughter, snorted. Ed shot him a glare that could have bored through rock.

Edward had successfully landed two of the bullies in hospital, and the other had had to grovel for forgiveness from Alphonse, who had been rather embarrassed about the whole affair, before Ed grudgingly agreed to let him go free. It wasn't that Al was _unhappy_ that his brother had stuck up for him, but really, it'd be a wonder if anybody ever talked to him again for fear of upsetting his brother.

Envy had watched the whole thing from the sidelines, thoroughly amused. It wasn't often one got the chance to see Ed in a fully-fledged rant, but it was certainly a sight to behold. It was amazing how much damage one (small) boy could do when he really wanted to.

Al sighed.

"Thank you for sticking up for me, Ed," he said, "But next time... you could at least let me _help_. Those bastards insulted Mum."

It was at this point that Envy finally lost his inner battle, and burst out laughing.


End file.
